


My Mind is Older

by KittyPaw



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Crack, F/M, Humor, References to the Jedi Council (Star Wars), Ridiculous Humor, The Jedi Council Has a Lot to Answer For, This is mostly just Anakin being ridiculously blunt and Yoda being Yoda, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:34:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26000476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittyPaw/pseuds/KittyPaw
Summary: Anakin thought his death was the end. He spent his final moments looking at his son and that was enough.Oh wait, but those weren't his final moments.Now back in his twenty-two year old body, he has to not fall into the trap he fell into before. But he's so different after having been Darth Vader for so long, and the people around him (namely Master Yoda) are noticing that this is not the same Anakin Skywalker that was there a few minutes ago.****This is mostly just meant to be funny!****
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 52
Kudos: 239





	1. Chapter 1

Anakin closed his eyes, and fell into a peaceful - _ow_!

Anakin sat up and rubbed his head. _Owwww_. That was not a peaceful fall, it dropped him out of nowhere onto a giant rock. And holy smokes he could feel his hand when he rubbed his head!

What the -

What happened to him?

"Anakin! Are you okay?" Obi-Wan ran over to him - wait. _Obi-Wan? Like, young Obi-Wan? WHAT THE KRIFF WAS HAPPENING?!_

"What's happening?" Anakin sat up, feeling weird now that he could not only control but also _feel_ all of his limbs. "Where am I?"

"You better not be joking with us, Skyguy," Ahsoka said over him. Anakin climbed to his feet, feeling kind of weird standing on flesh.

"Ahsoka!" He hugged her, thinking he didn't deserve to see these people. _This is a dream_ , he thought. _A cruel one_.

"Why are you acting like you've seen a ghost?" Obi-Wan wondered, giving him a look. _Ghost_. That reminded Anakin that Obi-Wan was supposed to be dead. Because he'd killed him.

A shadow cast over his face. "I..." He realized: He'd traveled back to the past. He died, only to be plopped back down into his twenty-two-year-old self. See Ahsoka and Obi-Wan and all the others again.

 _Oh shoot, Padmé too._ He knew he'd never take her for granted again.

"Are you alright?" Obi-Wan asked seriously. "How badly did you hit your head."

"Not too bad." Anakin ran his hand through his hair, which he had. He had hair. This was going to take some serious getting used to. "What are we doing again?"

"You need rest," Obi-Wan decided. Anakin nodded in agreement before completely collapsing out of exhaustion, shock, and having no idea how to stand on flesh legs. And the world went black.

***

Anakin's mind was in a haze as it slowly returned to the real world. His eyes slowly began to open, and a blurry version of a young togruta above him - Ahsoka! "He's awake, guys!" Obi-Wan and Padmé rushed over to his side. Anakin tried to sit up, but then thought better of it and let his head lay back.

"What - how long was I asleep?" Anakin slurred, rubbing his eyes.

"A day and a half," Obi-Wan informed him. Anakin was shocked, and thought he needed to jump to his feet and get back to work, when he realized that he wasn't _really_ the Anakin they thought he was. He had no idea what they were supposed to be doing, and he wasn't even used to being a human. He'd seen more things than the twenty-two-year-old version of himself had seen, and his eyes probably seemed haunted most of the time. That kind of happens when you kill trillions of people, blowing up entire planets and adding random troopers to the collection when you're mad.

"Anakin, I was so worried about you," Padmé said, leaning over him. She looked like she wanted to give him a kiss on the cheek, but thought better of it in the current company.

"Padmé!" Anakin exclaimed. He was never taking her for granted again, not after what he'd done to her (and what he'd _thought_ he'd done to his child).

"They told me you'd just come out of a battle and were headed towards a separatist ship to steal it and strand all their leaders on the planet, but you just collapsed and nobody knew what happened..." Padmé looked like she was about to cry.

"It's okay, Padmé. I'm safe." Anakin really wished they were alone.

Anakin decided to try sitting up slowly to prevent a head rush. It worked fairly well, and when he stood up, he was completely fine, although it was weird to actually be able to _feel_ things on all of his limbs as well as control them. He took a few steps on his feet, and found that it was getting easier and easier to adjust to his twenty-two-year-old body. "I really think I'm fine. Just passed out."

"The medical droids said there was no harm done when you fell," Ahsoka said, but not in a relieved tone. She sounded like she didn't really believe it, so Anakin decided to reassure her.

"I think I'm okay. I must have just been really tired from the battle." Anakin hoped that was the right thing to say.

It was, because Obi-Wan laughed. "Yeah - Anakin totally wiped out an _entire_ army of battle droids while I rescued Ahsoka. All by himself. He deserved a day and a half of rest."

Anakin remembered the days when he used to do stuff like that.

"Wait," Anakin said as the other part of the statement rendered. "Ahsoka was -" Then he realized not remembering the mission would mean they'd make him sleep more, and he wasn't really used to sleeping at all. "Is Ahsoka alright?" He decided to ask.

"Not a scratch on me, Skyguy," Ahsoka said teasingly. "It's so like you to ask if _I'm_ okay while you were just in a hospital bed for over a day."

"We managed to haul Anakin onto the separatist ships, meaning that our entire mission was completed," Obi-Wan informed Anakin. "Do you think you're up for the council report?"

"I'm totally fine," Anakin assured him, and he was. He just couldn't believe he'd actually _time-traveled_.

This time, he wasn't going to make the same mistakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's the beginning! I don't have a strict updating schedule, so someday I'll update four times in one day and sometimes I'll wait a week. It all depends on a) how many ideas I have for this story and b) how many ideas I have for other stories. I hope you enjoyed!


	2. Chapter 2

The council seemed pleased with the report, but some of them looked particularly uneasy.

"What is it?" Obi-Wan wondered, clearly sensing it too. He looked over at Anakin, who shrugged.

"Anakin has changed," Master Windu decided.

"It is as if the person who went on the mission with you, he is not," Master Yoda explained. Anakin tensed up - how close were they to the truth? Would he be expelled from the order if they found out what he had done in his past life?

"He fell and hit his head after wiping out fifty armed battle droids virtually unharmed." Obi-Wan seemed incredulous at the idea that Anakin would have _not_ changed, given this event. But Anakin knew the council was right about him. He had changed - he was twenty years older than he appeared. He'd seen more than this version of himself had seen.

"That's not what we mean," Master Windu told him. "He seems haunted at everything around him. We believe something has actually happened to him, and that this may not even be the person you left this building with."

Physically, he was the same. Mentally, he most definitely was not.

"I don't know what you mean!" Obi-Wan asserted. The council, for the moment, decided to let it go.

***

"Anakin!"

Uh-oh.

He really didn't want to have a conversation with Master Yoda. He was too smart. He would figure him out and then he'd be expelled from the order and his life would be a miserable mess and he'd wish he'd just died and never come back to the past -

"Anakin, speak with you, may I?"

 _No_. "Sure." Anakin tried to act natural, but Yoda was giving him _The Look_.

"I want to confirm you are the same Anakin Skywalker you claim to be," he explained. "Tell me about your Padawan, can you?"

It'd been a while, but... "I call her Snips. She's a togruta. She calls me Skyguy. She's about as good at following orders as I am, which is to say, she never listens to me at all."

Yoda stroked his chin. "It seems that know Ahsoka, you do. Do you know why you seem to be so... different?"

"No," Anakin lied.

"A lie, that was."

 _Was there anything Master Yoda_ couldn't _sense in the Force_?

Anakin sighed. "If you must know, I'm from the future."

Master Yoda paused. "Unexpected, this revelation was. But truthful, you are being."

"I died, and I was sent back to my twenty-two-year-old body. I have extensive knowledge of the future," Anakin whispered, hoping he wouldn't have to reveal anything to Master Yoda.

Master Yoda contemplated this. "When looking into the future, careful one must be. But ask this, I must: Do the Jedi succeed in restoring order in this war?"

Anakin took a deep breath. _Uh-oh_. "No."

Master Yoda had not been expecting that answer. "No, you say?"

"No. Darth Sidious takes on a new apprentice, who kills all parts of the order and destroys the republic, shifting it into a Sith Empire. This apprentice, known as Darth Vader, kills all the Jedi, and hunts down the fugitives. Every last one of them - the masters and knights and padawans, even the younglings. Dead. You and Obi-Wan survive, and that is it."

Master Yoda was always in control of his emotions, but was clearly processing Anakin's words. "And is this how you die?"

Anakin hesitated, thinking about it. Obi-Wan had told Luke he'd died instead of his turn to the dark side, and in a way, it was true. "Yes. That is how I die." Master Yoda's look suggested he knew it was a half truth, but he let it go.

"When does this... Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, appear?" Master Yoda said instead.

Anakin bit his lip. "A few weeks," he admitted. "But don't worry, he won't this time around," he told him confidently. "I'll make sure of that."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bringing in a little Revenge of the Sith here, so yay :)

"Have you ever heard the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the wise?"

"Yes."

Anakin decided he didn't want to just talk around his old self or any of that. Still, the look on the chancellor's face was one that Anakin would relish for the rest of eternity. "Oh... is that so?"

Anakin nodded.

"So the Jedi told you?"

Anakin shook his head. "It's just one of those things some people know," he said with a shrug. When the chancellor gave him a look, he added, "Back on Tatooine, at least."

"So..." Anakin watched the chancellor try to improvise, and he almost wanted to laugh. There went his scheme. "So, you, uh, know about how he could stop people from dying and stuff?"

"Yeah," Anakin said absentmindedly. "And then his apprentice killed him."

"Ironic," said Chancellor Palpatine, trying to get back to the seducing-Anakin-to-the-dark-side plan. But Anakin just wasn't having it this time around... he almost wanted to laugh.

"Yeah." Anakin shrugged. "Just goes to show how selfish Sith are. No appreciation for their masters at all, even those who can literally create life just by influencing midi-chlorians."

"Well... are the Jedi, then?"

Anakin nodded. "Yes, actually. Jedi don't, you know, kill people and stuff."

"But in war, they do," the chancellor pointed out.

Anakin sighed. "Listen, I know there are some severe problems with the Jedi order and their code. I don't even follow it most of the time. But the Sith are literally evil. And before you say that evil is a point of view, I've had a longer time to think about this than you know. I think that the order where people hurt others is definitely the evil one over the order where they only hurt others in retaliation, to protect the peace."

"Peace is all I want," said the chancellor.

"Then why are you playing both sides of the war?" Anakin didn't feel like playing the long game. "I know you're Darth Sidious. I know you're leading the separatist movement, but that in the end you just want to kill them all, and that you're also using this war to get yourself more power in the senate. Yeah no, we're not letting you build that Empire."

The chancellor just stared at him, and Anakin almost wanted to burst into laughter at the look on his face. His cheeks were all puffed and his eyes were as big as a deer in the headlights. "And... what?"

Anakin finally let his laughter come through as he stood up. "I'm turning you in to the council, Palpatine. And no, I won't turn to the dark side and become your evil apprentice or anything like that."

He stared.


	4. Chapter 4

"I've just discovered a terrible truth. Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith Lord."

That earned stares from the entire council as he stood before them. He wasn't sure how he'd told them last time, but he knew that their reaction was about spot on. "A Sith Lord?" Master Windu checked.

Anakin nodded. "The one we've been looking for."

"Are you certain?" This _was_ a pretty big claim, but Anakin knew for a fact it was true. In his past life, he'd spent twenty years serving him - he was definitely a Sith Lord. Or he'd had a really traumatizing, lengthy, and simply weird vision.

"Absolutely," Anakin asserted. "He knows the ways of the Force. He is trained to use the Dark Side," he elaborated. Yoda stroked his chin.

"Disturbing, this revelation is," he said. "And yet..." he looked at Anakin with a look nobody else in the room could interpret... but Anakin could. He was asking: _Did you already know about this?_ Or rather, _Already know about this, did you?_

"Yes," Anakin said in response to the silent inquiry.

"Hmm."

"I think he wanted me on the council because he knew you wouldn't make me a master," Anakin speculated. There were some nods of agreement.

"We should have foreseen this."

"We have to confront him," Obi-Wan replied.

"A few of us should go."

A few nominations began to resound throughout the Council. In the end, they decided to sen Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, Agen Kolar, and Saesee Tiin. "Anakin, I suggest you stay behind."

"Okay."

"I know that you - wait. What?"

"Okay, I said." The shock that Anakin _hadn't_ argued made him chuckle. "It's best that I stay back. I do not believe it would be wise for me to go." Anakin definetly saw Yoda not-so-slyly analyzing him out of the corner of his eye. He was definitely going to figure out Anakin's past, he had no doubt about it. Anakin was just sure he needed to hold him off. What would happen if they knew...?

"Al...right, then. Uh. Okay." They weren't sure what to do with the idea that Anakin actually agreed with them. Master Windu cleared his throat. "It's settled, then."

"Dismissed, this session is." (You can probably guess who said that one.)

Anakin loved the look on their faces. Maybe he needed to be obedient more often, at least until the effect wore off.

"Anakin! Speak with you, may I?"

_Oh no._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm now going to leave you there to speculate about what's going to happen in that conversation and hop over to my Canon Divergence fic about the Skywalker family being raised in the Imperial Palace ("If Mace Windu actually ARRESTED Palpatine") to write some Anakin/Padmé. Have a nice day!


	5. Chapter 5

"Know about the chancellor, you did."

"Yes," Anakin confirmed, feeling like his heart was literally sinking. Now he understood that expression.

"And know not to argue, you did," he added. "Happened last time, something did."

Anakin nodded and bit his lip. "Yeah, it's just not a good idea to go this time, I don't think," he decided.

Yoda stared for a minute. Then he promptly hobbled out of the room with no explanation, leaving Anakin to stand there like Palpatine when Anakin basically read his mind. A few minutes later, he hobbled back with Obi-Wan.

_Obi-Wan? He had to tell Obi-Wan?_

"Anakin, Master Yoda tells me you have something to say?"

Anakin took a deep breath. "Yeah. When I fell and hit that rock, my spirit changed. Mentally, I am the forty-five-year-old I was when I died. I was transported back in time to fix the past. That's how I knew Palpatine was a Sith Lord, and why I didn't argue when Master Windu told me not to come."

Obi-Wan literally just stood there at the info overload and looked down at Yoda, who nodded in confirmation. "Wow. I was expecting something more like, 'I've been seeing Padmé Amidala.'"

Anakin gulped. "We'll have that conversation later." Obi-Wan's eyes widened.

"Do I even know you?"

"Not this version," Anakin told him.

"Knows the future, your padawan does," Yoda told Obi-Wan. "Take on a new apprentice, Palpatine will. By the name of Darth Vader."

Anakin played with his fingers. "Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen this time."

"Why?" Obi-Wan wondered.

"I think I've altered the course of events enough that I've prevented it from happening," he vaguely said. When he got looks from both masters, he emotionlessly stated, "I was the apprentice." He walked out of the room briskly without waiting for their responses. There was no response to a revelation with that kind of gravity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like a lot of people are going to get shocked out of their mind based on Anakin's time travel. It's a wonder nobody's fainted yet.


	6. Chapter 6

Padmé ran her fingers through Anakin's hair. "Anakin... are you ever going to tell me what happened?"

"You wouldn't believe the first half of it," Anakin pointed out. _Let alone that I would actually tell Master Yoda and Master Kenobi_ , he added silently. _Oh yeah, and I'm evil, and I kill you. How about that?_

"I think I would," Padmé told him softly. Anakin sighed.

"Fine. Wanna know the truth? I'm from the future and was transported back into my young body when I died." Padmé gave him a look.

"Very funny, what really happened?"

"I knew you wouldn't believe me." Anakin gave her a peck on the lips and then stood up. Padmé, not about to let that settle as a kiss, stood up and pulled him in for a longer one. Then she looked at him doubtfully.

"Are you being serious?"

"Absolutely."

Padmé bit her lip and looked down. "So what's got you all twisted up?"

"I'm avoiding Obi-Wan and Master Yoda," he admitted. "I had to admit something to them about the future yesterday, and I walked off without waiting for their reactions. Honestly, I don't want to see them. I'll probably be expelled from the order, and -"

"Is it about our child?" Padmé whispered.

"Children," Anakin corrected. "You're carrying twins."

Anakin was getting used to the look of shock on people's faces when his knowledge from the future intervened with the past. "I'm carrying... _twins_?" She sighed. "Why did you have to tell them?"

"That's not what I told them, though I'm fairly certain Obi-Wan figured out that we're in love, though I'm not sure _quite_ how much he knows." Anakin sighed.

Padmé hesitated. "So, are you gonna tell me?"

"No! I don't need to add you to the list of people I need to avoid." Anakin squeezed her hand. "Just know that I love you. And no matter what happened last time I was alive, you are the only thing that matters to me, and I will never let _anything_ , including myself, get in the way of that." He walked away, leaving Padmé to wonder what terrible, traumatizing thing he was talking about.

***

Avoiding Obi-Wan didn't work for very long after the chancellor's arrest. He'd reluctantly agreed to go to the hearing, though not a fan of politics, and the first thing he did when he got back was corner Anakin.

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan ran after him and grabbed onto his shoulders. "Anakin. Where are you going."

"Away from you," he mumbled. "Listen, I don't want to talk about it. I've already self-punished enough -"

"Anakin! I'm not going to lecture you."

Anakin paused, and then looked up. "Wait. You're not?" He shook his head. "Who are you, and what have you done with Obi-Wan Kenobi?"

Obi-Wan laughed. Then his expression turned serious again. "No matter what happened in your past life, you're with us now. And so long as you're not training to become a Sith Lord _this_ time around, we're going to accept you."

Anakin groaned. "Please tell me you didn't have a conversation about this with the council."

"It was Master Yoda's idea."

Anakin put his head in his hands. "I'm not sure there's much worse than losing everyone and my children growing up without a father -"

"Yeah, let's talk about that." Obi-Wan gave him a look. " _Please_ tell me you're not the father to Padmé Amidala's children."

Anakin's heart sank. "I just gave that away, didn't I?"

"I'd suspected you were in love for a while, which you hinted at the other day when you told me you wanted to talk about Padmé _later_. But Anakin, getting a senator pregnant -"

"We're married," Anakin interrupted. "Droids are, like, the only witnesses, but we're married. Some guy on Naboo married us."

Obi-Wan literally stared, frozen. Lately, Anakin was seeing quite a lot of that reaction. "I need to go back to bed," Obi-Wan decided.

"That's probably a good idea."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I laugh so much every time Anakin just deadpans a ridiculous revelation and everyone just stares. I can't write this with a straight face.


	7. Chapter 7

This work is finished.

Some of you may like the ending, some of you may not. Whatever.

But imagine that this time travel thing is _finished_. So Anakin wants to go back to the future. But it's not working.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Anakin and his friends got stranded in a world where they were supposed to be fictional? Have you wanted to see their reactions to the Star Wars movies? Are you looking for more blunt and ridiculous humor now that this fanfic has ended?

Here is the summary for this work's sequel, _A Galaxy Far, Far Away_ :

> These characters are from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. So what the heck are they doing on Earth?!
> 
> After an adventure where the Force sends Anakin to the past to fix his mistakes, he tries to jump back to the future. However, the Force neglects to send him back, so he, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka spent their spare time during the Clone Wars (which was not very often) to build a time machine.
> 
> However, the time-travel device has one slight, back-to-the-future-esque problem. It has to get up to a certain speed, well past lightspeed, meaning going into hyperspace wouldn't quite get them there. So they had to make it so fast is began ripping past star systems and even galaxies before it finally deposits them into future.
> 
> But they land on the planet in the galaxy they'd begun to near as they'd reached the correct speed instead of their actual galaxy. Not to mention, they totally crash land.
> 
> So now they're stranded. On this planet called Earth. A long time in the future. Not to mention, Ahsoka is a Togruta, a species not native to the planet, which is raising suspicion... and Anakin and Obi-Wan look like a certain two beloved actors.
> 
> Welcome to a galaxy far, far away.

Here is the link to the work, if you are interested: <https://archiveofourown.org/works/26127238>


End file.
